Turks and Caicos Creole, or Turks and Caicos Patwah, is an English-based creole spoken in the Turks and Caicos Islands; a West Indian British overseas territory in the Lucayan Archipelago.
Turks and Caicos Creole | |
---|---|
Turks and Caicos Patwah | |
Native to | Turks and Caicos Islands |
Native speakers | 49,309 (2023)[1] |
English Creole
| |
Official status | |
Regulated by | not regulated |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | tch |
Glottolog | turk1310 |
Linguasphere | 52-ABB-ao |
The Turks and Caicos Island Creole variety has not been thoroughly studied, but is a dialect of Jamaican Patwah which shares many of the same words such as Aks (Ask), Dis (This), Gyal (Girl), and Mosi (Must be);[2] which is due to the fact that the Turks and Caicos Islands were formally a part of Jamaica for over 114 years (1848 - 1962), and shares a common history and culture with Jamaica.[3][4][5] Turks and Caicos Patwah has also been significantly influenced by Bermudian Creole English, as the islands were initially settled by Bermudian salt-rakers following the Taíno genocide and British colonization, and were a de facto part of Bermuda for over 126 years (1673 - 1799).[6][7] The language is also reportedly mutually intelligible with Bahamian Creole and as of (2023) the number of speakers of Turks and Caicos Patwah is approximately 49,309.[8][9]
Words
editWord | Meaning |
---|---|
Akx * | Ask |
Chile | Used to represent emphasis on a sentence (well chile he een tell me nuttin bout that) |
Chyl / Chyln ** | Child / Children |
Dis * | This |
Een ** | aren't (They een goin today), or isn't (That een right), or don't (I een no nuttin bout that), or haven't |
Gyal * | Girl |
Kech * | Catch |
Kottarugl * | Dance |
Mesple | Mammee apple |
Mosi * | Must be |
Ripsaw | Mento[10] / Burru[11] |
Scotch | Burn / Scratch |
Switcha | Lemonade / Limeade / Soft drink |
Tingz * | Things |
Tarekly | Tomorrow |
Val / Vel ** | Well (usually the 'W' and 'V' are exchanged with each other, e.g. vednesday: Wednesday, weil: veil) |
(Shared: Turks & Caicos / Jamaican Patwah) *
(Shared: Turks & Caicos / Bermudian Patwah) **
See also
editFurther reading
edit- Cassidy, Frederic G. (2007). Jamaica Talk: Three Hundred Years of the English Language in Jamaica. Kingston: University Press of the West Indies. ISBN 978-9-7664017-0-2.
- Cassidy, F. G., Le Page, R. B. (2009). Dictionary of Jamaican English (Second ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-5211184-0-8.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Chang, Larry (2014). Biesik Jumiekan: Introduction to Jamaican Language. Washington DC: Gnosophia Publishers (Chuu Wod imprint). ISBN 978-0-9773391-8-1.
- Cutler, Cecilia (2003). English in the Turks and Caicos Islands: A look at Grand Turk. In Contact Englishes of the Eastern Caribbean: G30 (Varieties of English Around the World). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 97-8-90272489-0-9.
References
edit- ^ Turks and Caicos Creole at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Cassidy, F. G., Le Page, R. B. (2007). Dictionary of Jamaican English. (Second ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 253, 305.
- ^ Lucas, C. P. (1905). ″A Historical Geography of the British Colonies.″ Vol. 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 134.
- ^ Cawley, Charles (2015). ″Colonies in Conflict: The History of the British Overseas Territories.″ Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 323 - 326.
- ^ Keegan, William F., Hofman, Corinne L. (2017). ″The Caribbean before Columbus.″ Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 151 - 195.
- ^ "Gold Bermudians - The Unheard Voice of Mary Prince". In Her Words - The Unheard Voice of Mary Prince. Dr. Dana Selassie. 2024. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
- ^ Cawley, Charles (2015). ″Colonies in Conflict: The History of the British Overseas Territories.″ Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 315 - 320.
- ^ "Statistics Department | Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands". www.gov.tc. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
- ^ Ethnologue report for Turks and Caicos Creole English
- ^ "Me and the Kingston Drummers(my drummer bros)". Kingston Drummers. Clarky di handdrummist. 2020. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
- ^ "Drummers link up in maroon town Portland, Jamaica". Portland Drummers. Clarky di handdrummist. 2020. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
- ^ "Jamaican Patwah Dictionary - Learn Patwah".
- ^ "Bermemes - Learn Bermudian words and phrases".
- ^ "Bermewjan Vurds".
- ^ "The Caribbean Dictionary".